Alita: Battle Angel (Robert Rodriguez, 2019)

[black&huge]

I was hoping to like this, but largely found myself bored. Cameron’s writing is really clunky, and Rodriguez doesn’t seem as at home with a mega production as he does with his scrappy lo-fi B-movie roots. There are a few impressive effects, but the dialogue sounds too painfully awkward and I’ve seen most of the action and FX before. Rodriguez did a much more exciting job translating comics to film with Sin City; this had none of the dynamism of reading manga (I’m not familiar with this particular title, so I can’t comment on how accurate it is.).

Rodriguez heavily worked on Cameron's original script and had to have his approval. Something around 163 pages brought down to a 2 hour movie.

[hanshotfirst1138]

I was hoping to like this, but largely found myself bored. Cameron’s writing is really clunky, and Rodriguez doesn’t seem as at home with a mega production as he does with his scrappy lo-fi B-movie roots. There are a few impressive effects, but the dialogue sounds too painfully awkward and I’ve seen most of the action and FX before. Rodriguez did a much more exciting job translating comics to film with Sin City; this had none of the dynamism of reading manga (I’m not familiar with this particular title, so I can’t comment on how accurate it is.).

Rodriguez heavily worked on Cameron's original script and had to have his approval. Something around 163 pages brought down to a 2 hour movie.

Didn’t know this, but it explains a lot. The movie definitely feels torn between its desire to be big (The manga obviously expands a much larger mythology) the desire to keep the runtime leaner.

[knives]

I suppose I'll join the chorus saying that this is a lot better than it has any right to be, but always seems one step removed from being as great as it could be. The one consistently great thing though is Salazar's lead performance. It's 90% animation though that animation is effective in making her seem like a genuine wide eyed, sorry for the pun, child lost in a world of violence and gore. Salazar's vocal performance makes that a living reality in a way a lot of the human actors aren't able to.

[domino harvey]

It took me a while to get into the groove of seeing lots of flashy CGI noise presented as action and characters, but this ended up being okay. I can't think of anything more boring than the dumb sport the plot hinges on, though-- when Alita first saw footage on a TV screen, I legit thought she was seeing someone play a video game. The plot is typical class conscious sci-fi stuff, but I did like that the mythical higher echelon of society is kept fully separate and unattainable by never really being seen except by afar, though the ending suggests they were saving it and the big name cameo at the end for a sequel that may never come. There's something grim about the film's message re: social mobility

SpoilerShow

Namely, there is none and no chance except for that unreachable, one in a million lotto shot of being the Best Ever at that game or going up as body parts (I thought this was a grim and effective punchline on the whole notion of social mobility in the first place)

Unlike a few others here, I did think this ended up feeling too short and rushed, and could have easily used another half hour to let everything breathe. Also, the MPAA is a joke: when robots look and act like humans and are carved up a million different gory ways, there's no effective difference and yet this somehow nets a PG-13? This is one of the most violent films I've ever sat through, which is fine, I'm no moral crusader, but the line separating this from Dead Alive isn't that thick (and is blood red!)